May the Best Baker Win
by Double Obsession
Summary: Spencer and Aria get into a baking competition with each other, gathering together their friends and family to be their judges. Who will win this intense bake-off? Some major fluff is headed your way in this one-shot!


**A/N: It's been a while since we posted, but we finally got there! This story was started a year ago and is now completed. We were inspired by all of the baking shows on Netflix. We hope you enjoy!**

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A knock at the door made Spencer jump even though she was expecting it. She quickly paused her Netflix, double-checked the baking utensils she had laid out on the counter, and opened the door. "Hey, you're late, as usual," Spencer greeted her best friend, Aria. It wasn't meant to be an insult; it became an inside joke between their polar opposite personalities, as Spencer was always at least ten minutes early.

"I come bearing supplies and recipes." Aria held up the bags while walking through the door. "And, as usual, I didn't mean to be late. I just forgot where I put the cocoa powder."

Spencer smirked while Aria handed her the recipes. "Of course you did."

As Aria began to unpack the bags, Spencer looked over the recipes Aria had brought over and cringed. "Gluten-free brownies? Vegan cheesecake? Aria, I thought you were just a vegetarian."

"I am, but I wanted to try what these people claim are so good! Just read these reviews: 'Surprisingly creamy for having no milk or cream cheese. It was like I was eating the real thing!' Don't you want to know what they _mean_ by that?"

Spencer set the recipes down and put one hand on her hip. "I don't know… Baked goods taste pretty great with milk, and flour, and eggs…"

"Come on, be adventurous! I don't know about gluten-free, but I've had some _very_ good vegan cuisine in my lifetime."

"No offense, Aria, but if you want it to be like the real thing, why don't you just use the real thing?"

Aria sighed. "Look, I thought it would be fun to bake something new. If you hate these recipes, we never have to make them again. Okay?"

"Whoa, what happened? Ten seconds ago you were soenthusiastic about how great your desserts were going to turn out," Spencer said with a grin.

"I was trying to be nice and compromise, but if that's how you're going to act, then fine. Yes, my vegan and gluten-free food will taste _amazing_. In fact, I'd be willing to bet money that it'll be just as delicious as yours, if not better," Aria said confidently.

"Ooh, is that a challenge?" Spencer asked with a glint in her eye. She'd never back down from a good competition.

"Now that you mention it, yeah, it is," Aria said. She stuck out her right hand and adopted a formal tone. "Spencer Hastings-Cavanaugh, I challenge you to a bake-off!"

Spencer took Aria's hand and shook it firmly. "You're on!"

The two friends immediately began to lay out the rules of their impromptu bake-off. The contest would consist of three rounds: brownies, cake, and cookies. Each round, Spencer and Aria would present their food to a panel of friends and family members and ask them to choose their favorite. Whoever won the most rounds would be declared the champion.

Round one: brownies. Wait, scratch that—first, introduce the panel of judges. First was Hanna Marin, whose taste in sweets was the least picky; she enjoyed anything with some sugar in it. Second was Emily Fields, who wasn't much of a chocolate person, so she would be the hardest judge in the first round—was it possible for Spencer or Aria to please the girl who preferred fruity flavors over chocolatey pleasures? Third was Toby Cavanaugh, Spencer's husband who usually made the meals in their house, though he had to admit that Spencer was the better baker. Fourth was Ezra Fitz, married to Aria, gifted with a more refined dessert palette due to a backpacking trip across Europe that he had taken in college. He was no stranger to the art of vegan takeout, which was the case when neither he nor Aria wanted to open a can of chickpeas and make their own meals. Fifth was Caleb Rivers, husband of Hanna, automatically making him a friend of Aria and Spencer. He was the most indifferent towards dessert, liking everything but not being too obsessed with the craft. Judging was going to be his challenge. The final two judges were the most bluntly honest: Daisy and Keenan, Aria's daughter and Spencer's son. They both loved sweets and were too young to feel the pressure of trying not to upset their loved ones. Their opinions may be brutal.

Now it was time for round one: brownies. Once Hanna started the clock, giving the two best friends one hour to complete their dishes, the two set off to their side of the kitchen counter. With confidence, Spencer began taking out the eggs and milk Aria would not be using. She knew exactly what she was doing: recreating Grandma Hastings' gooey fudge brownies. Right away she knew she was getting a plus from Toby and Ezra, who were obsessed with her grandmother's treats. While Toby had the luxury of having the baker at home, Ezra was always calling around holidays to make sure Spencer was bringing them to the party.

As for Aria, she was hogging the cocoa powder and unpacking the vegan supplies she had brought with her: flax eggs and dairy-free butter. When it came to vegan, brownies were tough. Sometimes they just didn't taste delicious at all. But this recipe she'd found appeared similar to other recipes she'd done, recipes which Daisy had snacked on without spitting out, even while going through her picky eating phase. In Aria's experience, just glancing at the ingredients, she had a feeling that she may be able to win this round, if she executed it right.

After about ten minutes, the kids grew bored with watching their mothers bake and ran off to play while they waited. Meanwhile, Caleb appointed himself commentator to entertain the adults.

"Things are heating up in the kitchen - literally! Both of our talented bakers are preheating their ovens, which will soon be filled with scrumptious brownies," he proclaimed. Hanna rolled her eyes as Emily giggled.

Aria and Spencer did their best to tune out Caleb's rambling and focus on their recipes. Aria was the first to get her brownies into the oven. She checked the clock, saw that she still had plenty of time left, and decided to whip up some vegan chocolate frosting to spread on top of the brownies. It would be the perfect finishing touch for her dessert.

Spencer, ever the perfectionist, was measuring her ingredients meticulously. She elected not to make frosting; once the brownies were in the oven, she'd have to watch them carefully. They had to bake long enough so they wouldn't be raw, but not so long that they wouldn't retain their gooey-ness.

After nearly an hour of intense baking, Daisy and Keenan were called back into the kitchen to witness the final minute of round one. Spencer and Aria worked frantically to cut their brownies and place them on plates before time ran out. Caleb led everyone else in a countdown of the last few seconds. "Five, four, three, two, one!" they chanted.

"And that concludes the baking for the brownie round!" Caleb announced. The judges applauded, and Spencer and Aria forgot the competition for just a moment to high five each other.

"Nice job," Aria said.

"You too," Spencer replied.

"We now turn to judging. Spencer, please present your dessert to the panel," Caleb went on.

Spencer nodded and passed out her plates to the judges. "My brownie is heavily inspired by my grandmother's special brownie recipe. The center is filled with a soft, warm chocolate fudge. I hope you like it!"

Ezra immediately cut right to the middle of his brownie and tasted it. "Mmm," he said. "Spencer, you know I always love your fudge brownies, and today, you certainly did not disappoint. This is excellent."

"Thank you," Spencer beamed.

"It's too messy," Keenan said, wiggling his chocolate-covered fingers at his mother.

"But that's what makes it fun!" Daisy said.

Before any of the adults could stop them, the kids ended up in a short-lived food fight after Daisy smeared her gooey hand from Keenan's ear to his cheek. In just milliseconds, Keenan had gotten brownie goo in Daisy's hair. Aria held her breath, pretending not to be upset by the sudden turn of events. The dark brownie hid so easily in Daisy's hair, she and Ezra would probably have to give her five baths until they got rid of all of the camouflaged goop. Emily, being the closest to the children, grabbed Daisy and plopped her on her lap before she could make a comeback. Hanna picked up Keenan and handed him to Toby, who took a napkin and started cleaning up Keenan's sandy-colored hair. Emily tried to do the same with Daisy, finding it nearly impossible to find which strands of hair were covered, until Ezra told her to forget about it for now, they would just have to wash it out later.

After the fiasco ended and Keenan and Daisy's hands and faces were washed up (with Daisy being warned not to put her head on anything white), the challenge continued with Aria presenting her brownies. Ezra said, "These are certainly better than other vegan brownies I've had, but the lack of gooeyness is making it hard for me to get completely behind this."

"Agreed," Hanna mumbled with a bite of the brownie in her mouth. "Though this icing is _incredible_."

Emily chewed her brownie with a very severe look on her face, taking the judging quite seriously. "Spencer's brownie was too overwhelming for me. I think I like this one better."

The kids were served the brownies with some hesitance, though Aria's was much cleaner than Spencer's. "I like these, Mommy," Daisy said while finishing off her brownie. However, Keenan didn't seem to like it at all; he took one bite and wrinkled his nose. But it was a milestone for him, trying his first vegan brownie.

Toby and Caleb backed up Ezra as well, making Spencer the winner of this challenge.

There were no breaks in the bakeoff (unless the kids were causing a commotion), so Spencer and Aria immediately moved on to round two: cake. Caleb counted off again before starting the timer, and the kitchen went wild with cheers from the judges.

Aria wanted to do the cheesecake recipe and started to mix that together while cutting up some fresh berries and whipping up some vegan whipped cream. Glancing at the judges, Spencer could see that they were all slightly to severely entranced by whatever Aria was making—Emily looked excited while Hanna looked like she might drool. Being the competitive person she was, Spencer, in order to get on Emily's good side in this round, planned to make a simple vanilla cake with vanilla bean frosting. To make it more exciting, she planned to make a fruity barrier between the two round cakes.

"Round two is in full swing!" Caleb said excitedly, continuing his role as commentator. "Spencer, fresh off her victory in round one, appears energized and determined to stay on top. Remember, folks, if she wins the next challenge, she will be declared the champion of the bake-off. But don't make the mistake of counting Aria out! Look at that passion and fire in her eyes – she is not ready to quit. We'll just have to wait and see who _takes the cake_."

"Caleb!" Hanna groaned.

Meanwhile, Aria continued furiously mixing her ingredients. While her cheesecake didn't require baking, it did need to harden in the freezer, and she wanted to give it as much time as possible. Partway through her mixing, she spotted a cupcake pan and came up with a new idea: miniature cheesecakes. They'd be the perfect serving size for the judges, so she wouldn't have to waste any time cutting slices, plus she hoped they might not take as long to freeze.

Spencer, on the other hand, faced a small roadblock when she realized the strawberries she'd intended to use for her cake were no longer in the refrigerator. "Toby? Where are the strawberries?" she asked.

"Oops, sorry. Keenan and I made smoothies last night," Toby said sheepishly.

"Great."

"Well, how was I supposed to know we were going to host a baking competition in our kitchen today?"

"Hey, Spence, you can use some of my strawberries," Aria offered.

"Thanks, but I don't want to do that to you," Spencer said. A bag of peaches caught her eye, and she quickly snatched them up. "I think I have another idea."

"What a great display of sportsmanship from our competitors!" Caleb declared. "They're helping each other out and keeping things fair. That's what we like to see." At that, both Spencer and Aria took a few of their precious seconds to smile at each other.

The competition pressed onward. Aria finished her cakes, topped them with strawberries and blueberries, and slid them into the freezer. She had nothing to do while they hardened, so she decided to decorate her serving plates. Struck with inspiration by Toby's mention of smoothies, she placed her remaining strawberries in a blender to make a sauce. Then she spread the sauce artfully on the plates, saving a little to drizzle on top of the finished cheesecakes.

As Spencer's two cakes baked, she made her frosting and prepared the peaches, peeling off the skin and slicing them thinly. When the cakes came out of the oven, she layered the peach slices in between them and covered the entire creation with the frosting. Finally, she took her leftover frosting and piped it around the edges of the cake before slicing it neatly. She inspected her final product, hoping the peaches would work just as well as the strawberries would have. _Maybe I should've accepted Aria's offer after all,_ she thought.

"You actually have thirty minutes left," Caleb remarked as the two stood around, thinking they only had a short amount of time to plate. Though both had finished their baking sooner than expected, they were still going to use every second of it. Spencer began to dig around for food coloring and icing tips. She wasn't the best artist, but she could make her cake more colorful with some basic flower and leaf designs.

Meanwhile, Aria studied her mini cheesecakes with intensity. They looked good, but she could definitely do more with them. She noticed the fruit sauce had started to drip around the cake a bit, spreading over the cheesecake in a delicious-looking fashion, and lightning struck her. In a surprising twist, Aria scraped the fruit off of each cheesecake and mashed them, mixing them with other stuff to make them more goopy so she had more of three different sauces: a dark blueberry one, a blood-like strawberry one, and a rich purple. She pulled out a tiny decorating brush. It was like a paint brush but specific to baking. She didn't know why she had brought it, but she was glad she did. The sauce that was already drizzled on the cheesecake was going to be a challenge, but she could do it.

While Spencer was piping out multi-color roses, she glanced over to see what inspiration had struck Aria and she was, to put it simply, impressed: Aria was painting different designs on each cheesecake with the most delicate paint brush she had ever seen.

Daisy saw her mom painting something and she got excited; she loved to paint. Once Aria was finished with all of them except for one, she handed the last one to Daisy and let her paint whatever she wanted on it. (Messy stripes and polka dots, it looked like.)

The final round was coming to a close: "Five...four...three...two...one!" everyone chanted, cheering as Spencer and Aria put their hands up to indicate completion.

Spencer and Aria presented their cakes to the judges and stood back to wait nervously. These results could very well lead to the end of the competition. The two girls glanced at each other and couldn't help breaking the tension by laughing at how seriously they were taking this contest.

"You'd think there was some huge cash prize here," Spencer said.

"I'd say the stakes are pretty high anyway," Aria replied. "There's a lot of honor and dignity on the line!"

As Spencer went first in the previous round, the judges tasted Aria's creation first this time around. "I love your colors and designs, Aria," Hanna gushed instantly. She pulled out her phone and snapped a few pics of the cheesecake. "This could be great inspiration for my fashion line!"

"And it tastes amazing," Caleb added. Aria grinned with pride.

"It's weird," Keenan said with no further explanation. Apparently he still wasn't ready to get on board with vegan food. Aria hoped to change his mind if they continued to the cookie round.

Once everyone had finished sampling Aria's cheesecake, they turned to Spencer's peach cake.

"Spence, your cake is underbaked," Toby said.

"What?" Spencer gasped. She reached for Toby's plate and inspected the slice of cake. Finding it fully baked, she narrowed her eyes and glared at her husband. Toby scooted his seat back in alarm.

"Whoa, sorry, babe. I was just kidding. It tastes awesome."

"I have to disagree with Toby on this one. The cake is a little too dense for me," Ezra said, hoping Spencer wouldn't refocus her death stare on him. Fortunately for him, she only nodded politely.

"I'm really enjoying the peach though," Emily said. "This is a simpler dessert, but I think it has nice flavors." Spencer smiled in satisfaction at having won Emily over.

"I don't like it," Daisy piped up, pushing her plate away. Spencer made a mental note not to offer Daisy any peaches next time she babysat. If nothing else, she thought, this competition was becoming an educational experience.

In the end, after careful deliberation, Emily, Toby, and Keenan voted for Spencer's cake, while Ezra, Caleb, Hanna, and Daisy chose Aria's. "So we move on to round three!" Caleb cried.

Round three started off with a bang: Spencer and Aria, realizing this was their last round and they were at a tie, rushed to get prepared. Aria immediately decided to do a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, while Spencer went for something entirely un-vegan: raspberry cheesecake cookies. Aria knew from experience that Daisy, Hanna, and Emily loved chocolate chip cookies whether they were vegan or not; but would they be enough to win over the others?

Meanwhile, Spencer had never made raspberry cheesecake cookies, but she had bought the ingredients for a recipe a few days ago and was meaning to get to them eventually. It was a risk, but Spencer was always risky. The judges saw the cream cheese coming out of the fridge and immediately took interest, except for the kids, who were playing with some toys on the living room floor. The panel had gotten a good vegan cheesecake just moments before, but for most of them, nothing could beat a real cream cheese.

While the adults' interest was piqued, toys were dropped and little footsteps were head stumbling to the kitchen.

"Mommy, me and Keegan were wondering if you could put braids in our hair," Daisy asked, interrupting her mom's measuring of flour, so Aria ended spilling in more flour in her batter than was probably good.

"Now's not a good time, honey. In thirty minutes, okay?"

Daisy pouted her lips and crossed over to Spencer. "Auntie Spencer, can you braid our hair?"

It was amazing how unobservant kids were sometimes, so focused on their own enjoyment that they would forget where they were and why. This was a competition, for Pete's sake! Before Spencer could say anything, Ezra and Toby offered to help out. Hanna was immediately interested: "Now, _this_ I have to see!"

While Spencer and Aria were rolling dough into balls, they watched as their friends and loved ones surrounded their kids on Spencer's living room floor, each taking turns to put a braid in each child's hair. "I know this is a competition and all… But a part of me wants to call a truce and join them," Aria said, noticing how Caleb was struggling to get braiding down and wished she was in the circle, too.

"You had long hair once, Caleb!" Hanna was honestly shocked that he didn't know how to braid.

"Well, I never braided it!" Caleb defended himself, but Hanna still didn't believe him.

Competitive as she was, Spencer smiled deviously as she placed another perfectly shaped ball of dough on her cookie sheet. "Why don't you then?"

Aria pursed her lips and squinted her eyes, as though she was seriously pondering the question. "No, I think watching can make some pretty good memories sometimes." And it did: both she and Spencer took a mental picture of the joyful scene unfolding in front of them as they went neck-to-neck in the background.

By the time the cookies were in the oven, Aria and Spencer were allowed to break for a few minutes just to fawn over their children's hair. "Oh my God," Spencer laughed, putting a hand over her mouth. For some reason, maybe from happiness, her eyes watered a bit as she knelt down to Keenan's level and tried to decipher whose braid was whose in his sandy hair. Aria found a goop of brownie and playfully criticized whoever didn't notice it when Daisy's entire head was literally made into six braids. (The kids had tried braiding each other's as well.)

Hanna was now pulling up hair tutorials on YouTube and showing them to the kids. "Look at what you'll be able to do when you get really good at braiding," she said. "Caleb, you watch too."

"What? I don't even have long hair anymore," Caleb protested.

"It's not for you. It's so you can do this for our future kids!"

Caleb leaned over and squinted at Hanna's phone screen. "This looks complicated. I need to take baby steps…no pun intended."

Hanna rolled her eyes. "Says the guy who could probably hack into the Pentagon."

"You can do it, Uncle Caleb! It's easy! Watch!" Keenan said. He gently tugged on Spencer's hair, separating it into three sections and clumsily crossing them over each other. Daisy followed his lead and started working on Aria's hair, first dividing it into two parts so she could do pigtails. Caleb shook his head but watched dutifully.

Caught up in the moment, everyone remained oblivious to their surroundings for a while. Emily was the first to notice that something was wrong. "Hey, do you guys smell that?" she asked. No sooner had she spoken than the smoke detector began blaring.

Spencer and Aria turned to each other with wide eyes. " _The cookies!_ " they cried simultaneously. Leaping to their feet, the two girls sprinted into the kitchen, snatched up their oven mitts, and opened the oven doors. Ezra and Toby scooped up Daisy and Keenan to prevent them from running into danger. Meanwhile, Emily, Caleb, and Hanna waved newspapers to dissipate the smoke and quiet the alarm.

When the smoke had cleared, Spencer and Aria looked into the ovens to find their beautiful cookies replaced by small, burnt lumps.

"Well… I doubt anyone wants to eat these," Spencer said. She glumly took out her cookie sheet and set it on the stovetop.

"And I don't have the ingredients or the energy to make another batch," Aria added.

No one spoke for several seconds. Spencer and Aria slowly turned to look at each other. With their hair braided haphazardly and their clothes stained by bits of food, they made quite an interesting sight. Spencer cracked a smile, then Aria burst out laughing, and the next moment they were hugging.

"I'm sorry I was so critical of your vegan desserts," Spencer said. "It wasn't fair of me."

"No, no, you don't need to apologize," Aria said. "I did kind of spring them on you."

As Spencer stepped back from the hug, she caught sight of the remnants of Aria's mini cheesecakes. "You know, in the midst of all this chaos and competition, I never did get to try what you baked. I think you were right – we should call this whole thing off and just enjoy the fruits of our labor."

"Sounds great, as long as I can have some of your gooey fudge brownies. Ezra always gets to them before I do."

"It's a deal," Spencer said, ignoring Ezra's indignant "Hey!" and reaching for a couple forks. Everyone gathered back around the table, content with simply the good food and the good company.


End file.
